


A Familiar Face

by thing1_mea



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken Engagement, Comforting Patrick, Engagement, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Insecure David Rose, M/M, One Shot, Past Patrick/Rachel, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Rachel shows up unexpectedly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25948474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thing1_mea/pseuds/thing1_mea
Summary: David did not expect his day to be graced by two of Patrick's exes. Funny enough, neither did Patrick. Cute fluff and reassurance ensue.Takes place in between seasons 5 & 6. Spoilers for season 5 finale.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Patrick Brewer/Rachel, Rachel (Schitt's Creek)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 89





	A Familiar Face

The bell rang in the front of the store, and David turned looked up from his place at the back, restocking the Camomile Tea Lotion. An auburn-haired woman smiled at him. David didn’t recognize her and made a mental note to tell Patrick they had a new customer when he came back with David’s drink and lunch. 

“Is that bathroom public?” She asked. 

David nodded. As she shut the door, he rolled his eyes. So much for the customer. He continued his restocking and let himself smile when she came out and started looking around at the products. 

“So it’s all locally sourced?” she asked him. 

A dumb question, but David kept that knowledge to himself. “Yes, everything you see here is made within 50 miles of Schitt’s Creek.”

“Such a funny name for a town,” she commented. 

“Yes.” He nodded emphatically, “It definitely is. So I take it you’re not from here?”

The woman shook her head, “No, I just desperately needed a bathroom and your store was the first place I saw, to be honest.” 

David nodded, not the greatest news, but at least she seemed to be genuinely looking at the products. “Just passing through town then or..?” 

“Oh,” she offered, looking up from the handknit socks, “I’m helping a girlfriend move her stuff, and we passed by the town on the way. She should be stopping soon. I sent her the name of the store. We’ve been driving for a few hours so I’m sure she needs to stretch her legs too.” 

David smiled. Another customer was coming. He would get to brag to Patrick later on. 

“So, do you own the store?” She asked. 

“Yes,” David smiled. Bragging about his store was his favorite kind of small talk. “My fiance and I own it. He’s just across the street, grabbing me lunch.” The word fiance made his heart flutter, and he involuntarily twisted the new rings on his hand. 

“Wow, that’s brave, I don’t think I could ever work with the person I was seeing,” She said, keeping the socks in her hand as she moved down to look at the body milk. 

“Well, actually, we started dating after we got into business together,” David said, hoping he didn’t sound too defensive. 

She nodded and seemed about to respond when the door dinged again. David glanced up and froze. It was Rachel. Patrick’s Rachel. The other person Patrick had proposed to. Rachel was in his store. In his and Patrick’s store. 

Rachel was frozen too. 

The other woman in the store smiled, “Hey babe,” she said. After noticing the two staring at each other, she did a double-take, “Do you two know each other?”

David had no clue how to respond, but luckily Rachel had taken the cue. She turned to her girlfriend, “I can pee across the street. Let’s head over there.” 

David was silently grateful as she turned to leave. Her girlfriend seemed to want to say something, but the door dinged again. 

Patrick walked stepped into the doorframe and froze as Rachel turned to face him. “Rachel,” he breathed. He glanced up to find David’s face but first found the other woman’s. His eyes widened, “And Claudia. Hi.” He then found David and smiled reassuredly. 

Claudia gasped and turned to David, “Is Patrick Brewer your fiance?” She asked. 

“Fiance?” Asked Rachel. 

By this point, Patrick was working his way over to David. He dropped the lunches off at the front counter and asked, “What are you two doing here?”

“We’re moving in together and needed a place to pee,” Claudia supplied, “We had no clue this was your store.” 

Patrick handed David his coffee and let his hand settle reassuringly on his back. David cradled the coffee, hoping its warmth would calm him down. It didn’t. 

“I didn’t realize you two were still close,” Patrick noted. David watched as he tried to maintain eye contact with Claudia. It mostly worked, but he kept flicking over to look at Rachel. 

Claudia looked to Rachel, “Did you not tell him?” She asked. 

Rachel opened and closed her mouth once before, finally finding the words. “I- I mean we haven’t really been talking lately,” She turned to Patrick, “Claudia and I are dating, have been for about a year.” 

Patrick’s eyes went wider than David expected. He looked between the two as if unsure who he should be more shocked about, “Oh,” Was all he knew to say. 

“I would have told you,” Rachel said, “but we haven’t really talked in a while.” 

Patrick removed his hand from David’s back to rub his neck. He stared at Claudia as if trying to decide if he should say what he was thinking. “I assume you told her that we...” he trailed off, but David understood enough to turn to look at Patrick in surprise. 

“Yeah, I’m not a child Patrick,” Claudia said with a laugh, “We cleared everything up before we moved in together.” 

“I’m sorry, you two...” David insinuated. He was trying not to read too far into anything that had been said. Trying to trust that there was nothing else Patrick was hiding, trying to believe that there were no more surprises. 

“It was nothing,” Patrick assured David, then upon seeing Claudia’s insulting expression, “I mean we- we um- after Rachel and I broke off our first engagement I dated Claudia for a couple of weeks.” 

“Then I told him I was gay and somehow the gears still took a few years to click before Patrick realized he was too,” Claudia supplied. 

David saw Rachel look at the ground out of the corner of his eyes, but he didn’t care. He was watching Patrick. His Patrick, who had broken off two engagements before. His Patrick, who he wanted- no needed to believe would always be there. But he had said this to Rachel. He’d said this to her twice. 

“You didn’t say you were gay,” Patrick said, “You said I wasn’t your type.” 

She raised an eyebrow, “I said you weren’t my type cause you weren’t feminine enough. I thought that was pretty explicit.” 

Rachel let out an uncomfortable laugh. 

Patrick’s gaze turned to Rachel and settled there for a moment. David couldn’t stop himself from looking between them. Rachel looked exactly like she had the last and only other time David had seen her. She was still the small sweet girl that David was sure would fit perfectly in Patrick’s arms. 

“Congrats on the engagement,” Rachel supplied. 

“Oh,” Patrick said, shocked out of whatever thought he was having, “yeah, thanks.” He turned to smile at David. It was a smile that held promises David wanted to believe. 

David returned a more pained smile and moved to hold Patrick’s arm. 

“Claudia, why don’t we go get lunch?” Rachel suggested as she moved toward the door. 

Claudia glanced down at the socks then back up between the other three people in the store, “Yeah, whatever you want, babe.”

Rachel left before Claudia even had the socks back on the table. Claudia waved over her shoulder at the boys and then jogged to catch up with her girlfriend. David and Patrick watched them until they made it into the cafe and then instinctively turned toward each other. 

“Are you okay?” Patrick asked. 

David breathed in slowly and felt his breath quiver. He nodded but knew it wasn’t convincing. 

Patrick wrapped his arms around David and held him close, “David, you have nothing to worry about with Rachel. I promise. We’re ancient history now.” 

David shook his head. “It’s not that,” He said, “I just- I- you broke off your engagement with her twice and I-” He stopped as Patrick pulled him closer in, shaking his head. 

“David, I never really wanted to propose to Rachel. I proposed to her because I felt like it was the next thing to do in our relationship,” He pulled away enough to look into David’s eyes, “I proposed to you because I can’t imagine my life without you, David Rose. I proposed to you because I needed to so bad. Because I need you in my life, and I need to be in yours.” 

David looked away. He couldn’t meet Patrick’s eyes. He wanted to believe Patrick. And part of him did. Part of David had healed enough to believe that this man wanted him so badly he would commit to him for life. To him and no other. But doubt was cracking through him. 

“David,” Patrick pulled his attention away from his thoughts, “I thought about breaking things off with Rachel every moment after we got engaged. It never felt like the right decision. Proposing to you, asking you to-” he paused to collect himself, “Asking you to be my husband was the right decision. Asking you to be my husband-” he looked up at the sky, and David could tell his composed boyfriend was close to breaking, “David being engaged to you makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world. The thought of that- of us- going away,” he shakes his head, “I can’t let myself think about it, or I’ll be crying in the middle of the store.” Patrick let out a short laugh at the end.

David nodded and smiled. He tried to pretend he hadn’t already let out a tear or two. “I love you,” he whispered. 

Patrick pulled them back close together and hugged him tight, “I love you too, David.”


End file.
